1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communication systems and more particularly to methods and apparatus for providing wireless broadband communications services.
2. Background
Many forms of electronic communication, including both wired and wireless, have been developed over the years. Wireless communication systems have included both terrestrial-only systems with transmitters and receivers on the ground, as well as satellite communications systems that integrate a space-based component with terrestrial transmitters and receivers.
One form of electronic communication that has become very widely used in recent times is the Internet. The introduction of the World Wide Web, by which rich content is readily available to users through a graphical interface, made using the Internet attractive to millions of people. Software applications running on the computers of individual users have typically accessed the Internet via telephone modems. Unfortunately, the data rates available via conventional modems which communicate via traditional phone lines, limit the amount of data users can practically upload and download.
Some alternatives to data communication over conventional phone line circuits have been introduced in recent years. For example, various broadband protocols implemented through Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems, cable modems and fiberoptic modems, offer higher data rates than are achievable with analog modems. There are drawbacks with each of these approaches, including, for example, physical wiring between a service provider and an individual user's equipment or premises. Additionally, landline based broadband services require that phone companies or other providers install new equipment, and the service is not readily available everywhere. For similar reasons, the ability to recover costs is especially difficult in less densely populated areas.
In view of the wide use of the Internet and World Wide Web by individual consumers, an important consideration in the development and deployment of a system for satisfying those consumer requirements is cost. In other words, unlike various government or commercial-only systems, new equipment and services for the consumer marketplace need to comply with much greater cost constraints.
What is needed are cost-effective methods and apparatus for providing wireless broadband terrestrial information delivery.
Wireless communication devices (WCDs) are becoming increasingly commonplace. For example, millions (if not billions) of individuals own and/or utilize one or more WCDs such as, but not limited to, a mobile phone, personal data assistants (PDA), a wireless gaming device and a computer with wireless capabilities. To support the growing numbers of WCDs, there are also many numbers of service providers, and the user typically subscribes or is granted access these services. Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice and data. A typical wireless data system, or network, provides multiple users access to one or more shared resources. A system may use a variety of multiple access techniques such as frequency division multiplexing (FDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), and others. Examples of wireless networks include cellular-based data systems. The following are several such examples: (1) the “TIA/EIA-95-B Mobile Station Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System” (the IS-95 standard), (2) the standard offered by a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) and embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the W-CDMA standard), (3) the standard offered by a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2) and embodied in “TR-45.5 Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems” (the IS-2000 standard), and (4) the high data rate (HDR) system that conforms to the TIA/EIA/IS-856 standard (the IS-856 standard).